Town Square

Special Report: Waiting for backup

Original post made
on Sep 30, 2007

Swirling a cup of coffee in the break room of the Menlo Park Police Department on a September afternoon, Felicia Byars is exhausted.
A patrol officer on the Menlo Park force for five years, Ms. Byars is nearing the end of her fifth straight day of at least 12 hours on the job.

Posted by Ben There
a resident of Menlo Park: other
on Sep 30, 2007 at 4:41 pm

I have to wonder... if the good citizens of Menlo Park were to stop driving fast, using/selling controlled substances, and advertising the wealth that lies at the end of their Ferrari-lined driveways those poor police officers might be able to do their job of protecting and serving in a less harried environment.

One other suggestion: close-off Marsh Road and Willow Road and let East Palo Alto deal with the inhabitants east of the 101. Better yet, make that entire section of town another Gilroy like EPA did with University Avenue.

One employee suggests we swap whats left of the good people of East Palo Alto with the bad people of East Menlo Park, THEN close the freeway overpasses. The reason: those areas with the most notorious crime get the best federal funding, plus, the City of Palo Alto has access to so much money it would be in their best interest to pony-up to keep the bad people from spilling over the creek.

We must careful, though, not to create too much animosity between the two sides of the creek and freeway because when the real estate market takes its final dump and the stock market becomes less profitable than a stall at the San Jose flea market, guess who will move where just to retain a San Mateo County zipcode?